It is early, but how do I begin to book this?

My wife and I are doing a 10 day Vancouver-Hawaii Sept 2015 on Celebrity for our 10th anniversary. We live in eastern Iowa, our home airport is Moline (MLI), about 35 mins. We are 3hrs from ORD (Chicago) and DSM (Des Moines) and 1 hr from CID (Cedar Rapids). Usually, but not always it is cheaper to fly from MLI than ORD by the time you tack on gas, tolls, and parking not to mention 3hrs of drive time each way. Plus we leave our car at my MIL's which is 5 mins from the airport.

Here is our dilemma, we would like to fly to YVR with one stop, cheapest way available, can do 2-4hrs in cheap seats. However, on HNL-MLI, we would like to fly 1st class, with 1 stop for the 8+ hr flight. I have searched on several booking sites, plus ITA Matrix, often. Is the best way to just book 2 one way tickets? No sight will let me book separate classes on a multi-city search?

My T/A has suggested Choice Air when flights become available! HELP

By the way I am very comfortable booking my own flights on the internet, have not done it any other way in over 20 years!

I find it is often cheaper to book 2 one ways then a multi trip flight. Price it out both ways. If they are the same airline try calling and booking over the phone with them direct they may have a better options such as booking them both coach and then paying to upgrade to first class on the one leg. :)

It depends on what airline you are planning to fly on.. you can do multi city searches on United ( at least I have ) with a free one way stopover.

You can ask for help on flyertalk.. the gurus there know all the ins and outs of searching for flights.

You might even have sufficient time for award travel if you pick up a Chase credit card or two. :D

It depends on what airline you are planning to fly on.. you can do multi city searches on United ( at least I have ) with a free one way stopover.

 

You can ask for help on flyertalk.. the gurus there know all the ins and outs of searching for flights.

 

You might even have sufficient time for award travel if you pick up a Chase credit card or two. :D

I have just scored 95,000 miles this month by adding 2 credit cards (United and Chase Sapphire Preferred). A cruise in Nov. took care of the triggering charges of $2000 (United) and $3000 (Sapphire) with no problem:D. That might be enough for a one way flight. Consider getting to LAX or SFO separately the cheapest way possible and in economy or economy plus. Take a night in LA or SF then take a flight to Hawaii. Might consider Hawaiian air or Alaskan Air as cheaper options. Good luck.

My wife and I are doing a 10 day Vancouver-Hawaii Sept 2015 on Celebrity for our 10th anniversary. We live in eastern Iowa, our home airport is Moline (MLI), about 35 mins. We are 3hrs from ORD (Chicago) and DSM (Des Moines) and 1 hr from CID (Cedar Rapids). Usually, but not always it is cheaper to fly from MLI than ORD by the time you tack on gas, tolls, and parking not to mention 3hrs of drive time each way. Plus we leave our car at my MIL's which is 5 mins from the airport.

 

Here is our dilemma, we would like to fly to YVR with one stop, cheapest way available, can do 2-4hrs in cheap seats. However, on HNL-MLI, we would like to fly 1st class, with 1 stop for the 8+ hr flight. I have searched on several booking sites, plus ITA Matrix, often. Is the best way to just book 2 one way tickets? No sight will let me book separate classes on a multi-city search?

 

My T/A has suggested Choice Air when flights become available! HELP

 

By the way I am very comfortable booking my own flights on the internet, have not done it any other way in over 20 years!

Booking two one-way tickets is often the easiest in a situation like this. Unlike going to, say, Europe, purchasing two one-way tickets shouldn't cost much, if any, more than a roundtrip, and would give you more flexibility to book economy class one-way and first class back. You could also then look in to separate airlines if schedules or products (aka comfort) differ - for example booking United to Vancouver, and American back from Honolulu.

Choice Air will likely not give you any real discount on these domestic/Canada trips, and just puts another layer in between you and your ticket, which I hate.

I have just scored 95,000 miles this month by adding 2 credit cards (United and Chase Sapphire Preferred). A cruise in Nov. took care of the triggering charges of $2000 (United) and $3000 (Sapphire) with no problem:D. That might be enough for a one way flight. Consider getting to LAX or SFO separately the cheapest way possible and in economy or economy plus. Take a night in LA or SF then take a flight to Hawaii. Might consider Hawaiian air or Alaskan Air as cheaper options. Good luck.

We (husband & I) did the same thing in 2012 and were able to fly first class with a stop over in SF then to Hawaii ( from the east coast) this past March.

Can't beat the credit card bonuses...

I have just scored 95,000 miles this month by adding 2 credit cards (United and Chase Sapphire Preferred). A cruise in Nov. took care of the triggering charges of $2000 (United) and $3000 (Sapphire) with no problem:D. That might be enough for a one way flight. Consider getting to LAX or SFO separately the cheapest way possible and in economy or economy plus. Take a night in LA or SF then take a flight to Hawaii. Might consider Hawaiian air or Alaskan Air as cheaper options. Good luck.

1. The OP is flying from Iowa/Illinois to VANCOUVER to join a cruise and needs air back to Iowa from Hawaii.

2. Chase (all the Chase Preferred cards) have a lousy redemption rate and the transfers for air are so limited to only three international airlines that we got rid of all our INK Bold business cards (same as Chase Preferred but for business) just because it was almost impossible to use the points.

And we were using them for diesel fuel, which racks up at about 1200 gallons per week per truck at roughly $4.00 per mile. So getting two cards with two additional signers on each card was racking up about 4800 miles per card x 4. Didn't take long to rack up a whole lot of points. Right at 90,000 miles per month. And they are all sitting, not being used because we can't find any availability.

Needed two tickets in March for a food show in Europe for my employees. Food show was actually in Brussels but any large connector airport would do. BA is too darn expensive with the added fees and even though Chase says you can use them in many alliances, we have found it nearly impossible to book an AA flight with the Chase/transferred to BA points. NO availability on United in March and there were no connecting flights from MCI/DSM/OMA to JFK that would get my guys on the Virgin flight to London that we could use the points.

So we are getting rid of the Chase Ink cards and going back to more Starwood Amex and AA cards. AT least with the amount of points we rack up yearly, we can get a ticket or more likely upgrade instead of just racking up more points that are totally useless to us.

With only 5 actual airlines and alliance seats hard to come by, the Chase Preferred card does not work very well for us.

Greatam thanks for the heads up on the cards. I imagine that the points might be hard to get an award on though they are showing still on the flights I want right now. Supersaver and BC according to the United site. Don't have enough points yet to pull trigger. If not I will just dump the points into the Chase Sapphire account and pay cash (double points) and use the cash back option. I signed up for the cards hoping for United flights since that is what goes out of IAD most. If all else fails I'll use the points for lodging. I'm a Newbie at this points game so will see how my experience goes.

Can you do a SouthWest to Seattle ? bus or train to Vancouver. Quick Coach is good, Even direct to ship. United still owns the Hawaii routes back to states.Doing exact trip this Fall with this route.Also a cheap use of United FF miles since Honolulu is considered Domestic. I did 20K miles one way; think its gone up.

I have 2 major cards, a Capital One Visa miles card, which I cashed in last year for our Sept cruise. And a Carnival MasterCard, again used last year for our cruise. My FICO score is 840 and I do not change cards often. My wife and I are not big spenders, other than travel and dining out, we live in modest home, drive used cars, and we pay our bills on time in full. We love to travel and our disposable income goes toward that. Plus I have a daughter still in HS and still pay child support.

That being said I am not airline loyal, although I hate flying Southwest and it is still a 3 hr drive to Chicago and no direct flights to YVR.

From what I am seeing it will probably be UA to YVR and either AA or DL on the return. But it is still really early and a lot could still happen.

I have 2 major cards, a Capital One Visa miles card, which I cashed in last year for our Sept cruise. And a Carnival MasterCard, again used last year for our cruise. My FICO score is 840 and I do not change cards often. My wife and I are not big spenders, other than travel and dining out, we live in modest home, drive used cars, and we pay our bills on time in full. We love to travel and our disposable income goes toward that. Plus I have a daughter still in HS and still pay child support.

 

That being said I am not airline loyal, although I hate flying Southwest and it is still a 3 hr drive to Chicago and no direct flights to YVR.

 

From what I am seeing it will probably be UA to YVR and either AA or DL on the return. But it is still really early and a lot could still happen.

For th eflight to Vancouver you want to also check the Air Canada and Westjet website. On the Westjet website I sometimes get some combined codeshare flights with their US based partners (American and Delta) that don't show up anywhere else.

For th eflight to Vancouver you want to also check the Air Canada and Westjet website. On the Westjet website I sometimes get some combined codeshare flights with their US based partners (American and Delta) that don't show up anywhere else.

Yes it's weird how some sights miss certain codeshare options

Check all possibilities

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Look at getting an Alaska Airlines branded Visa card (from B of A) which will get you 25,000 miles as a signing bonus, plus a $99 ($118 after taxes) companion certificate good on any Alaska Airlines itinerary (coach only.)

Use the companion certificate for ORD-xSEA-YVR, then fly first class on Alaska back from Hawaii - terrific service, free stopover in Seattle if you want. That would require 40,000 miles one way in first class, so only 15K more than the signup bonus for one traveler.

Alaska is also cheaper than other carriers on HNL-ORD in first class, by around $100 one way.

Alaska miles can be redeemed on Alaska, American (soon including US Airways), Delta, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Air France, KLM, Lan, Emirates, and others.

I have 2 major cards, a Capital One Visa miles card, which I cashed in last year for our Sept cruise. And a Carnival MasterCard, again used last year for our cruise. My FICO score is 840 and I do not change cards often. My wife and I are not big spenders, other than travel and dining out, we live in modest home, drive used cars, and we pay our bills on time in full. We love to travel and our disposable income goes toward that. Plus I have a daughter still in HS and still pay child support.

 

That being said I am not airline loyal, although I hate flying Southwest and it is still a 3 hr drive to Chicago and no direct flights to YVR.

 

From what I am seeing it will probably be UA to YVR and either AA or DL on the return. But it is still really early and a lot could still happen.

We are similar in profile to you -- what you will be in a few years:rolleyes: We opened the credit cards for the bonus and if they work out to flights that will be wonderful and if they don't well I can use the pay cash and have the points "erase" a hotel room etc. Our daughter talked us into it -- how much do you put on credit card each year (an amount that made me faint! but we do major travel every 6-8 weeks at this stage of our lives) and that is money left behind because you will still spend the money with or without points. So I have the cards. I triggered them with a cruise that has final payment August 1 and the shore excursions for that cruise. I will work the credit cards as I can depending if we need airline (or hotel ) redemption or if we want to just take the cash off the bill. Next year then will have to decide if keeping it and paying the yearly fee or dropping the card for something else. Loyalty is me!

As far as having 3 new credit cards (2 in hubby name with me as additional) and one with my name and DH as additional. and dropping an older card that we were no longer connected to that bank all in the last 6 months and we have had no impact on credit score that you check for free online. We pay the bill off every month and can't really see the circumstance where we would borrow major money now so if credit score fell a bit not a worry. My DD says it is just the banks new form of toaster and will last until they find something else cheaper that will make them think they will get folks flocking to the door.

Greatam thanks for the heads up on the cards. I imagine that the points might be hard to get an award on though they are showing still on the flights I want right now. Supersaver and BC according to the United site. Don't have enough points yet to pull trigger. If not I will just dump the points into the Chase Sapphire account and pay cash (double points) and use the cash back option. I signed up for the cards hoping for United flights since that is what goes out of IAD most. If all else fails I'll use the points for lodging. I'm a Newbie at this points game so will see how my experience goes.

My family and I have had great success using Chase Sapphire points for all kinds of air fares. They allow transferring points to a family member, which we did for our son's trip to Bali last year. He transferred them back after a few more months of purchases. They got roundtrip DTW-Bali for $1,300 out of pocket for two people. Even paying cash it would have been cheaper.

I've used Sapphire points for Europe twice.

Comparison shopping helped.

For th eflight to Vancouver you want to also check the Air Canada and Westjet website. On the Westjet website I sometimes get some combined codeshare flights with their US based partners (American and Delta) that don't show up anywhere else.

Anything with Alaskan airlines? there might be something cheaper there on occasion. Pretty no frills like Southwest. I read about you folks out in the Midwest or somewhere that does not have 6 or 7 airports that are really possible (WAS gets BWI/Reagan and Dulles) 3 hour on train to EWR (Newark) and 2 1/2 hour to Richmond VA which is closest if going with daughter (direct flight to Disney World!!). And Philadelphia is within 2 1/2 hours too so there are lots of options domestic and international. I think for most folks though the options and number of flights have really gone down in last 5 years (as well as prices going up).

thanks for the replies. still monitoring the rates to look at trends. looked as far out as June of 2015. right now it is cheaper to fly from mli-yvr than from ord-yvr on AA or UA. and cheaper to fly hnl-mli than hnl-dfw or ord on AA.

ITA Matrix has become my friend.

I do not like multiple connections and will generally pay a little extra not to do so.

and it looks like booking 2 one-way tickets will probably be the way to go, direct from the airlines websites, which is how I usually book my airfare.

Anything with Alaskan airlines? there might be something cheaper there on occasion. Pretty no frills like Southwest. I read about you folks out in the Midwest or somewhere that does not have 6 or 7 airports that are really possible (WAS gets BWI/Reagan and Dulles) 3 hour on train to EWR (Newark) and 2 1/2 hour to Richmond VA which is closest if going with daughter (direct flight to Disney World!!). And Philadelphia is within 2 1/2 hours too so there are lots of options domestic and international. I think for most folks though the options and number of flights have really gone down in last 5 years (as well as prices going up).

Damn us hillbillies with one airport in the area! ;)